Homemade German sausage with a Polish technique

[sleebus.jones]

I've been wanting to do this for a while now. The first sausage that I made turned out really good, but it was a fresh sausage and unfit for low temp smoking. For that you need to add Cure #1, and I also wanted to tweak garlic levels and add some mustard seeds. Stanley Marianski says in his book that he wants to educate the reader so they can go off and develop their own sausage recipes from what they have learned, well, I can say that's exactly what I've done.

Pork 75.00%
Beef 25.00%
salt 1.75%
pepper 0.38%
Crushed garlic 1.00%
water 3.13%
Cure #1 0.25%
Mustard seeds 0.10%

Spices are the percentage weight of the total meat. I used country style pork ribs that were on sale and beef shoulder. EVERYTHING went into the grinder, fat and all, even the beef fat. Got everything as cold (par-frozen) as I could so the grinding wouldn't smear fat. Mixed all the spices into the water and poured over ground meat. Hand mixed until pretty sticky. Loaded stuffer and away we went. Total was 14# of sausage. Smoked for about 2 hours with pit boss pellets at 150°. Pulled and poached in 165° water until IT of 155°. Immediately placed in ice bath until IT of ~55°. Results were killer. Doubling the garlic and adding mustard seeds was definitely a winner. This is some seriously tasty sausage.



Loaded onto the Jim Bowie. Ran out of space, so used 4 shot glasses to elevate a cooling rack for the last piece.



Coloring up nicely



First batch ready for poaching



In the hot tub



And just chillin'



Final result



Fair bit of work to do this but OMG the results!! Very, very tasty. I'd put this up against any sausage I've ever eaten.

 

[Big George's BBQ]

YUM I really must put this on my to do list

 

[Retired RailRoader]

Nicely done sir! How long and at what temp did you smoke them at? I haven't poached sausage yet I have just smoked them to the sausage reached 155. How was the texture casing after poaching?

 

[sleebus.jones]

Nicely done sir! How long and at what temp did you smoke them at?

Might have missed it in the text above, buuuuut...

Smoked for about 2 hours with pit boss pellets at 150°.

I really went on color as a guide. 2 hours is probably going to be the right amount of time. You're looking for that nice mahogany color.

I haven't poached sausage yet I have just smoked them to the sausage reached 155. How was the texture casing after poaching?

Poaching, quite simply, is the Bee's Knees. You don't lose any flavor, and the cooking temp is very constant throughout the pot...no hot spots like you might get in a smoker. It's also very fast. I think they were only in the pot for 20 mins. I think cooking them in the smoker might lead to an oversmoked sausage. The smoke flavor in these was just right, nicely balanced with the sausage flavors. Texture of the casing was tender, with some snap to it. Much nicer than just smoking/grilling which made them kinda tough. After doing them this way I'd say it's a Best Practice and I won't do them any other way.

 

[KevinJ]

They look delicious :hungry:

 

[Free Mr. Tony]

Looking good. I made a similarly simple recipe I came up with recently. The main flavor of salt, pepper, and garlic is hard to beat.

 

[effinUker]

That reminds me of the Polish sausage my grandpa used to get every Christmas from a little deli in Chicago.

It looks amazing. Thanks for sharing it!:grin:

 

[Fatback Joe]

Nice Job!

 

[sleebus.jones]

That reminds me of the Polish sausage my grandpa used to get every Christmas from a little deli in Chicago.

It looks amazing. Thanks for sharing it!:grin:

I'm originally from outside of Chicago and also have Polish heritage. I can bet ya my kitchen smelled just like that deli! Best. Smell. Ever. :whoo:

 

[effinUker]

I'm originally from outside of Chicago and also have Polish heritage. I can bet ya my kitchen smelled just like that deli! Best. Smell. Ever. :whoo:

I bet it did! I think the deli was Slotkowski's (or something like that). He'd grab fresh and smoked sausage, and loaves of Jewish Rye. We'd have that with pickled herring and fried potatoes for Christmas Eve dinner. He grew up in Minnesota but ended up in Chicago after WWII, where he met my grandma. She was from Vermont. Both of them 1st generation American born Polish.

Wow, you really brought back some great memories for me with this. Thanks a ton. Sorry if I derailed your thread.

 

[sleebus.jones]

Happy to bring back some great memories! Sounds like a tasty dinner; I love pickled herring. My wife, not so much, haha.

 

[IamMadMan]

Awesome job, they look great!!!!!

 

[PatAttack]

Nice looking links!

 

[BillN]

Wow those look better than good, amazing job.

 

[Badjak]

I want some of those !

 

[sleebus.jones]

We served one of these links chilled and sliced as part of a cheese tray last night when my folks came to visit. They were a big hit with them. One thing I noticed was how clean the mouth feel was even when cold out of the fridge. Store bought sausage (I'm looking at you, Hilshire Farms) tends to feel greasy and a bit mealy when cold, but not this stuff.

As always, Quality Meat = Quality Product (when done right!)